“Honour everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the emperor” (1 Peter 2v17).
Most reading this will have some idea what it means to “Honour everyone. Love the brotherhood. Honour the emperor”. But how many know what it means to “Fear God”? We need to know what it is to fear God because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (Prov.1v7) and because the Lord delights in those who fear Him (Ps.147v11).
Throughout the Bible, believers are identified again and again as those who fear God. One of the promises of the New Covenant was that God would put the fear of Him in the hearts of His people “that they may not turn from me” (Jer.32v40). I hardly need to say that this fear of God has nothing to do with a cringing, fearful, uncertain attitude to God. God is our Father in Christ. He loves His people with an everlasting love (Jer.31v3). He rejoices over His people with loud singing (Zeph.3v17). He spared not His only Son but gave Him up for us all (Rom.8v32). The last thing God wants is for His blood-redeemed children to cringe in fearful uncertainty before Him.
